Year in Review: 2020
By Eric Letsinger, CEO
2020 took a toll on us all. While this year started like many others, our strategies quickly pivoted. As the virus hit us all hard in March, we were trying to celebrate QV’s sixth anniversary while closing our office, ceasing all travel, and transitioning to remote operations. A relentlessly steady drumbeat of virus surges, racial injustices, increasing rates of unemployment and economic anxieties, large natural disasters exacerbated by a warming climate, and a contentious U.S. election cycle have piled on to make 2020 a year most of us will be glad to have in the rearview mirror.
Through it all, I have been routinely blessed to work with caring, resilient, creative, and dedicated colleagues at Quantified Ventures. I’m continuously amazed and inspired by their drive, diligence, creativity, smarts and grit as they lean in every day to create solutions to massive health, environmental, and social challenges. Given all that this team pulled off in 2020, I’m already looking forward to seeing what’s possible in 2021!
Despite the headwinds, this has been a year of firsts at Quantified Ventures:
We created the first-of-its-kind Family Focused Recovery Outcomes Fund in partnership with Humana and Volunteers of America to sustainably scale programs to provide comprehensive services to mothers with substance use disorder and their children.
We closed the first Environmental Impact Bond in Virginia, working with the City of Hampton and partners to finance $12 million in nature-based solutions to fight flooding and pollution.
We launched QV’s first subsidiary company, ReHarvest Partners, to lead the transition to a more regenerative system of agricultural production by creatively deploying outcomes-based capital and monetizing environmental outcomes.
We were awarded 5 of the 10 grants from the Innovative Finance for National Forests Grant Program, supporting work on the Southwest Wildfire Impact Fund, campground development and upgrades in Inyo National Forest / Mammoth Lakes, salmon habitat restoration along the Oregon coast, the transformation of a visitor center in Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, and recreation infrastructure improvements in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
In our first full year as a Certified B Corp, we formed a Corporate Social Responsibility committee to operationalize our continuous improvement work, held our first company service day, and formally launched our journey to advance equity and justice in our company and in our work with clients.
And there are several other accomplishments related to our efforts worth noting...
The first 26 miles of mountain biking trails of the Bailey’s Trail System were completed and our partnership received the USDA Chief’s Award.
Karen Dale of AmeriHealth Caritas joined the Quantified Ventures Advisory Board.
The Hope Has A Home program provided 16 new medical respite beds, in Washington, DC, significantly expanding the capacity to serve individuals experiencing homelessness.
Our Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is scaling to 120,000+ acres and will compensate more farmers across multiple states to implement conservation agriculture practices thanks to commitments for carbon and water quality outcome purchases from private companies and local, state, and federal government entities.
We made significant progress on Environmental Impact Bonds and outcomes-based financing initiatives with municipal partners in Buffalo, Memphis, and New Orleans
We set the stage to begin work on several projects in Texas in 2021 through the Texas Outcomes-Based Finance Challenge
2020 was rough and there were many days filled with frustration and pain for so many. This also was a year in which we demonstrated resilience and saw the power of partnership to address challenges and drive positive outcomes.
I am thankful to be able to witness this first-hand in QV’s people, our partnerships, and our measurable results. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey in ways large and small. On behalf of the team at Quantified Ventures I wish all of you a happy holiday season and a wonderful start to 2021!